Next Stop, Fortuity
by Miss Pavalova
Summary: AU; "Absentmindedly, she glanced at the watch strapped to her left wrist – 11:59. The train was set to leave at exactly midnight. She sighed disappointedly. It was a fickle thought, but she had hoped there'd be at least one person that she could share a compartment with..."


Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail in any way, shape, or form. I also don't own the quote, which is a line from the song 'Intoxicated' by The Cab.

A little piece to get me back into the writing mood after exams. I've been gone for about... a month and a bit, but I definitely am in the midst of writing a bunch of things!

I hope that all of you enjoy this small oneshot~

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**Next Stop, Fortuity **

"_With you... We could be the only ones here."_

When she entered, the compartment was silent. Not the eerie silences like those in horror or suspense films, but more like the serene silence that a person would find when entering a safe haven - comforting. No matter what description she gave, it was reassuring to finally find somewhere that didn't involve any part of her thinking so deeply like it had before. She didn't have to think about being absolutely perfect for her father, or for their reputation, or anything for that life she had abandoned. She had found a place to be... at ease.

She found a spot, choosing a random seat next to the window in the off-chance that she see something interesting through the fog-covered glass. Being that it was nearly midnight, she doubted that she might see anything.

The rest of the compartment was empty. It was probably a rare sight to see another person take the midnight train with her. Although it was her first time taking a train so late, more so the first time she had ever gone on a journey with a resolute idea of never going back, she could only imagine that not many people would be as crazy or as stupid as she to even consider leaving at such a late hour.

To her, it only increased the sense of adventure that lay in her path.

Knowing that there was no better time to start than then, she unzipped the messenger bag that she had brought with her and took out her beloved notebook and pen. Both items were worn, showing the many times they had been used throughout many moments in her lifetime. Her fingers flipped past pages and pages filled with tiny scrawl – story ideas, character profiles and unfinished paragraphs lost just before the most dramatic scene could unfold. Finding a clean page, she clicked her pen and began to think, wondering what her next story venture should be.

She hoped that this new beginning of hers would provide an endless supply of ideas to fill her mind.

Absentmindedly, she glanced at the watch strapped to her left wrist – 11:59. The train was set to leave at exactly midnight. She sighed disappointedly. It was a fickle thought, but she had hoped there'd be at least one person that she could share a compartment with. The train ride would be a long one, she imagined, never having properly looked at where her destination would be. She had just picked a random destination and forked out enough money to pay for the ticket. Maybe that was one flaw in her plan – choosing a place where no one might visit. Then again, she had chosen such an odd time to depart...

So that she could be assured that she had chosen a decent place, she fished out the ticket from one of the pockets in her messenger bag. Printed out in bold capitals was the single word, 'MAGNOLIA'. From memory, all she knew was that the place was a small city in the east of Fiore, a lovely one at that.

She glanced back at her watch. 15 seconds. 10 seconds. 5, 4, 3 –

"Yosh! I made it on with," the train doors shut tightly behind the person that spoke, "no time to spare."

Her head snapped up, an expression similar to something interweaved between a daze and fright flitting across her face in a millisecond flat. Had her awful doubts just been doubts – no truth or evidence making them resolute? Could the wild looking person in front of her be just a figment of her own lucid imagination?

"You're staring at me strangely. Looks like I'm stuck with a weirdo for the next couple of hours!"

She gawked. The boy grinned sheepishly, scuttling around to settle himself in the seat opposite hers. At that time, she managed to begin her scrutinising of this mysterious stranger, whether or not he could turn out to be a friend or some mystery pervert that might attempt unspeakable things on her.

Sandals were strapped to his feet, and just like her book and pen, they looked worn themselves – a sign of a traveller, she assumed. The beige cargo shorts and bright red t-shirt just added to her assumption. The white scarf wrapped around his neck was peculiar, having a design that reminded her of scales. His eyes were slanted and his teeth were sharper than the average person's. And his hair... It was the brightest, most vivid head of hair that she had ever seen in her life. It was... pink.

"Isn't staring supposed to be rude? Wow," his exuberant voice broke her out of her reverie, along with the fact that his face had moved towards hers and was only a few inches away. Her judgement of him was definitely leaning towards 'pervert'. "You're definitely more of a weirdo than I thought you were."

"Idiot! Don't call me a weirdo!" she snapped out. Her immediate reaction after her statement was to clap her hands over her mouth and back away from the odd guy, flustered at her own actions. What she hadn't expected were the chuckles that he was trying hard to contain, turning into boisterous laughter only a few moments later.

"Man! You seem like a fun person weirdo! Maybe this train ride back home isn't gonna be so bad after all! I'm glad I took those pills Wendy recommended, or else I'd be too sick to even see straight!" he managed to say while gasping for air once his laughter session had concluded. Seeing him crack up over her actions had made her ease even more than when she had boarded the train.

And that was when, through her thoughts deluded by excitement, she realised that they were moving, and had been for a little while now.

Her hands found their way to the window, wiping away the moisture that had built up from the cold air outside. She could barely see a thing, but, in the spur of a moment that she had been waiting for, for what felt like forever, some spark in her ignited – the gnawing hunger in her to seek adventure had begun being fulfilled.

She had momentarily forgotten about her fellow companion until he had decided to speak up. "That expression of yours makes you look less like a weirdo. It actually looks like you're excited about something."

Her nod answered his question. Her eyes softened as she continued to admire the darkness beyond the fogged glass, stars the size of pinpricks dotted throughout the sea of black. "Travelling. I've always wanted to travel. I'd never had the chance before... This is actually my first train ride! Ridiculous, huh?" She paused, taking in a deep breath so that she wouldn't lose her sanity to all her fortunes. "So, I guess that's what's got me so excited."

Contrary to a chauvinistic or ridiculing remark she somewhat expected from him, he merely smiled, choosing to sink back into his chair and look at the same landscape as her. His eyes held an expression of fondness, similar when a person begins to get sentimental about something. "It's not ridiculous. Or stupid either. Travelling is just the best!" He glanced back at her, continuing to smile. "I'm Natsu. Natsu Dragneel. Who're you and why do you have the pleasure of being my company for the rest of this trip?"

Her earlier thoughts of him had dissipated, replaced by ones of admiration and friendliness. She smiled back. "I'm Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia. And I'm your lovely company for this trip because I wanted escape."

He raised a brow. "Escape?"

Her smile turned wry. Emotions of melancholy began to rush through her, along with previous memories filled with loneliness and isolation. She pushed them away as to not become emotional in front of a stranger. "Family issues. Just... family issues, between my Papa and I."

"I guess you're in a similar boat then," he replied. She angled her head to the side, a little confused as to why he would say such a thing. He reiterated. "The whole family issues thing. Reasons why you're travelling. I'm doing this to look for my Dad, instead of leaving him though, so I guess it's different in some way too."

He rubbed the back of his neck, and Lucy realised that she may have been insensitive to his feelings mentioning her reasons to travel. Her hands moved to her lap and her eyes seemed to mysteriously glue to them, completely ignoring the imploring eyes staring at her. "Oh," she spoke quietly. "I'm sorry if ended up insulting you about what I said."

He waved a hand nonchalantly. "It's fine. Everyone's got their own problems. We just find them out eventually."

An awkwardly tense filled silence followed tem after that, with Lucy not knowing how to continue the conversation. She tentatively continued to stare at her lap, fingers fiddling with the fabric of her skirt. Should they keep talking about family issues and such, or move onto another, lighter, tangent?

"Wait. Since you said that this is the first time you travelled, does that mean that you've never been to Magnolia before?" Natsu suddenly piped up, stunning her for a moment before she nodded hesitantly. His eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "No way! But Magnolia's... Magnolia! It's amazing! It has the best people, and the best food, and –"

The words were coming out of his mouth at such a rapid pace that she could barely register anything that he was saying. All she could catch were the words 'Magnolia' and a number of simple adjectives describing this mysterious place. From his excitement about it, she could guess that it was his hometown.

"When we get there, you want me to show you around the coolest place on Earth?"

Her brows rose to her hairline, or well, a little below it. "Excuse me?"

He grinned. "Jeez Luigi, weren't you paying attention? I want to show you around Magnolia when we get there! Not to mention, I'll show you the coolest bar in Magnolia – Fairy Tail. Everyone there is awesome except this guy named Gray who's a total asshole. Don't let him get near you, and if he does, just tell me and I'll whoop his ass for you, okay?"

Unable to cover it up, she began giggling, very entertained by whatever Natsu was saying. "First off, my name isn't Luigi. It's Lucy. Lu-cy. Please learn to pronounce it right. Also, I think I'll take you up on that offer Mr. Summer. Magnolia does seem like a lovely place to visit now, after you started speaking about it like a door-to-door salesman."

"Mr Summer?" he asked, a little sceptically. He offered out his right hand, his expression turned humorously serious. "Agreement that I don't call you Luigi if you don't call me whatever the hell you called me just then?"

They shook on it. "Deal."

The pair sunk back into their respectable seats, moving into a comfortable silence disturbed only by the sound of the train whizzing past landscapes and sceneries hidden by the night. Lucy picked up her notebook, her mind conjuring the story idea of a girl meeting a wonderfully friendly adventurer on a midnight train, with many adventures following afterwards. She thought that it would be interesting to see how the rest of the story unfolded. The boy in front of her chose to stare outside the window dreamily, his eyes flickering back to her every so often.

"Hey Lui –" he began, sometime after the stopped talking. She shot him a look. "Luce. I thought I should mention this, but even if you rejected my offer of touring you around Magnolia, I would've still dragged you with me anyway."

Her head didn't lift up from the page, but a small smile had crept upon her face as three words were written in her loopy handwriting – the title of her, hopefully successful, story design – _'Next Stop, Fortuity'_.


End file.
